Blinken's Uphill Battle: Seeking Gaza War Pauses at Israel Meetings and Arab Summit

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is embarking on his second trip to the Middle East since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, aiming to build support for humanitarian pauses in the fighting in Gaza. Blinken will need to convince both Israel and Washington's Arab allies, who are demanding a more immediate and sustained ceasefire. The Biden administration is proposing temporary and localized humanitarian pauses to increase aid flow and safely evacuate civilians, as well as to help Hamas locate and negotiate the release of roughly 240 hostages. However, Israel has yet to embrace the idea of humanitarian pauses, believing that Hamas will only buckle under intensified military pressure. The US is also pressuring Israel to limit airstrikes in southern Gaza, arguing that civilians were told to evacuate there from the north. Washington's Arab partners will need to be pushed to back humanitarian pauses, as they overwhelmingly demand a ceasefire.